Another two days in Kolkata. The city is very busy on one side hectic on the other side even a bit laid back. We mainly explored the city by foot and were very tired in the evenings. The city does not have a lot to offer or to see, the main thing which I found fascinating or rather disturbing were the huge differences. You can see the well kept buildings and areas from the British era and on the other side the real poverty and misery of the people living on the street. After going to the Bangladesh embassy on Monday [View Full Entry]

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From Darjeeling we went back to Siliguri where we booked a night bus to Kolkata. After 16 hours bus drive we finally arrived. The drive was especially difficult for Marc since he got some bug or something and felt absolutely horrible. It must have been a real pain to travel in a local bus for that many hours. We have not seen much of Kolkata yet but will start exploring tomorrow. We also want to find out about the possibilities to go to Bangladesh. Maybe we can spend a few days over there. [View Full Entry]

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First of all we were freezing the first night. Darjeeling is on 2200 metres above sea level and really cold during the night. Anyway the next morning we had to look out for a place to eat. All Darjeeling was closed - and I mean closed. No restaurant was open, no cyber cafe was open, they were on strike. The strike had been going on for 20 days already and it was not sure how long it would go on. We only got some transport the day before because the strike was 'open' for half a day. Some fellow travellers gave [View Full Entry]

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We had previously decided to leave Nepal and move on to India soon, so we had booked a flight or better we had booked two flights. The first one brought us up to the mountains where we had a fantastic view of the Himalaya and of course of Mount Everest. To be honest - in the end these are just normal mountains as we know them in Switzerland. It is not possible to realise how high they are or how much higher than the Alps. Anyway the flight was fun and exciting. After an hour we were back at the airport [View Full Entry]

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After KTM we cruised along the Kathmandu Valley for two days. The valley is famous for it's religous temples and sites. First we went to Patan which has a lovely city center and really nice temples to look at. The next day we moved on to Bhaktapur were we sneeked into the city without paying the entrance fee. Another lovely city with beautiful temples. The last day we went to Bodnath, where we glanced at a really big buddist Stupa and then went to Pashupatinath where we were able to observe the cremation of some bodies. We cruised through the valley [View Full Entry]

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There have not been many Cyber Cafes along the way so I have to do some catching up right now. After the Chitwan Nationalpark we went back to Kathmandu for one day. We made some sightseeing, Marc showed me around since he knows KTM already petty well. However, this sightseeing had no influence on my first impression I still do not like KTM very much. We only stayed one day since we mainly needed some supplies like a guidebook for India or had to do some laundry. [View Full Entry]

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We went for a jungle walk in the Chitwan Nationalpark for two days. First we went with the canoo for about one hour and then hit into the jungle. We had two guides with us. It was great to walk through the park, learn about plants and animals. On the first day we saw quite a lot of animals (rhino, bears, crocodiles, ...) on the second day we were not that lucky again and did not see many animals. [View Full Entry]

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Early in the morning I left the guest house and went looking for the bus stop. The city was absolutely dark and when I was walking through the little streets and alleys I was kind of scared. I arrived at the bus stop savely and the trip could get started after sorting out the ticket thing. It took a bit more than five hours to get to Sauraha. It is only 90 kilometers from Kathmandu but the streets are in a bad condition. It is not possible for the busses to drive into Sauraha therefore you get dropped a bit outside [View Full Entry]

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I safely arrived in Kathmandu a few hours ago. I was able to catch the van from the hostel and they drove me through the city. It is quite chaotic from what I could see and we drove through areas where I did not wanted to get out of the car whatsoever. I could hardly get a room in the hostel although Marc has made a reservation for me. It took me quite some patience until I finally managed to go to my room. Afterwards another test for my patience. I tried to book a bus to Chitwan for tomorrow morning. [View Full Entry]

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The last few days were very slow and I thought the day would never come! But here I am, finally on the way to the airport...! Yay :-) [View Full Entry]

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